I don't know what other people are doing - I just know about me.

Whatever you think can’t be done, somebody will come along and do it. A genius is the one most like himself.

I say, play your own way. Don't play what the public want - you play what you want and let the public pick up on what you doing - even if it does take them fifteen, twenty years.

Sometimes it's to your advantage for people to think you're crazy

The loudest noise in the world is silence.

There are no wrong notes; some are just more right than others.

Trying to explain music is like trying to dance architecture.

Jazz is freedom. You think about that.

Don't play everything (or every time); let some things go by... What you don't play can be more important than what you do.

Jazz is my adventure. I'm after new chords, new ways of syncopating, new figures, new runs. How to use notes differently. That's it. Just using notes differently.

The only cats worth anything are the cats that take chances.

You have to learn when it’s best to delegate those hard physical jobs to others while you tackle the heavy thinking.

You can graciously live through every struggle.

Seafood was always my favorite food. I mean, fried lobster? Come on. Once I found out shrimp, scallops and lobster were my allergic triggers, I had to change my diet.

When you're out of sight for as long as I was, there's a funny feeling of betrayal that comes over people when they see you again.

To be challenged means to strive. I'm almost certain that's true.

Some ministers would make good martyrs: they are so dry they would burn well.

the Empire State Building was tall. So what? Just proved New York builders didn't know when to stop at a good story.

Nothing is more flattering for a writer than when someone knows your work.

When everyone thinks alike, no one thinks very much.

usta be young usta be gifted - still black.